CEOs and business leaders on the CEO panel were asked wide-ranging questions about public and private pension plans during a period in which media reports highlighted dilemmas for both. Some of the major dilemmas have included public pension shortfalls (CPP), pension investment failures, and the movement of many companies from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.

Panelists adopt a tough line on all the players, including themselves. The panel believes that

• New pension regulations should be introduced to tie executive pensions to changes in the pension rules affecting average employees in the firm so that ordinary employees, faced with cuts in expected pension benefits, can take satisfaction in knowing their bosses will not be unaffected,
  
  
• Employees should learn to take a more active interest in their own retirements and bear the risk of such investment errors, and
  
  
• The Ontario government acted improperly in topping up the teachers’ pension plans without public debate and discussion.
  

Though falling short of a consensus position, most see some merit in criminalizing pension misconduct that has been traditionally seen as amounting to regulatory infraction. This inclination is in keeping with past CEO panel positions that fear of jail is a strong antidote to executive misconduct.

These are the key findings from the current web-survey of the COMPAS panel of CEOs and business leaders undertaken for the Financial Post under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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